Data Communication

Instructor: Sazid Zaman Khan

Encapsulation and Decapsulation
Encapsulation at the Source Host
At the source, we have only encapsulation.
1. At the application layer, the data to be exchanged is
referred to as a message. A message normally does not
contain any header or trailer, but if it does, we refer to
the whole as the message. The message is passed to the
transport layer.
Encapsulation at the Source Host
2. The transport layer takes the message as the payload,
the load that the transport layer should take care of. It
adds the transport layer header to the payload, which
contains the identifiers of the source and destination
application programs that want to communicate plus
some more information that is needed for the
end-to-end delivery of the message, such as
information needed for flow, error control, or
congestion control.
Encapsulation at the Source Host
The result is the transport-layer packet, which is called
the segment (in TCP) and the user datagram (in UDP).
The transport layer then passes the packet to the
network layer.
Encapsulation at the Source Host
3. The network layer takes the transport layer packet as
data or payload and adds its own header to the payload.
The header contains the addresses of the source and
destination hosts and some more information used for
error checking of the header, fragmentation
information, and so on. The result is the network-layer
packet, called a datagram. The network layer then
passes the packet to the data-link layer.
Encapsulation at the Source Host
4. The data-link layer takes the network-layer packet as
data or payload and adds its own header, which
contains the link-layer addresses (for example MAC
address).
The result is the link-layer packet, which is called a
frame. The frame is passed to the physical layer for
transmission.
Decapsulation and Encapsulation at the
Router
At the router, we have both decapsulation and encapsulation
because the router is connected to two or more links.
1. After the set of bits are delivered to the data-link layer,
this layer decapsulates the datagram from the frame and
passes it to the network layer.
2. The network layer only inspects the source and
destination addresses in the datagram header and consults
its forwarding table to find the next hop to which the
datagram is to be delivered.
Decapsulation and Encapsulation at the
Router
The contents of the datagram should not be changed by
the network layer in the router unless there is a need to
fragment the datagram if it is too big to be passed
through the next link. The datagram is then passed to
the data-link layer of the next link.
3. The data-link layer of the next link encapsulates the
datagram in a frame and passes it to the physical layer
for transmission.
Decapsulation at the Destination Host
At the destination host, each layer only decapsulates the
packet received, removes the payload, and delivers the
payload to the next-higher layer protocol until the
message reaches the application layer. It is necessary to
say that decapsulation in the host involves error
checking.
Addressing at different layers
Figure 2.9 shows the addressing at each layer.
As the figure shows, there is a relationship between the
layer, the address used in that layer, and the packet
name at that layer. At the application layer, we
normally use names to define the site that provides
services, such as someorg.com or email.
Addressing at different layers
At the transport layer, addresses are called port
numbers, and these define the application-layer
programs at the source and
destination. Port numbers are local addresses that
distinguish between several programs running at the
same time. At the network-layer, the addresses are
global, with the whole Internet as the scope.
Addressing at different layers
A network-layer address uniquely defines the
connection of a device to the Internet. The link-layer
addresses, sometimes called MAC addresses, are
locally defined addresses, each of which defines a
specific host or router in a network (LAN or WAN).
Addressing at different layers
OSI model
The International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) is a multinational body dedicated to worldwide
agreement on international standards. Almost
three-fourths of the countries in the world are
represented in the ISO. An ISO standard that covers all
aspects of network communications is the Open
Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. It was first
introduced in the late 1970s.
OSI model
An open system is a set of protocols that allows any two
different systems to communicate regardless of their
underlying architecture. The purpose of the OSI model is to
show how to facilitate communication between different
systems without requiring changes to the logic of the
underlying hardware and software.
The OSI model is not a protocol; it is a model for
understanding and designing a network architecture that is
flexible, robust, and interoperable.
OSI model
The OSI model was intended to be the basis for the
creation of the protocols in the OSI stack.
The OSI model is a layered framework for the design
of network systems that allows communication
between all types of computer systems.
It consists of seven separate but related layers, each of
which defines a part of the process of moving
information across a network (see Figure 2.11).
OSI model
OSI vs TCP
When we compare the two models, we find that two
layers, session and presentation, are missing from the
TCP/IP protocol suite. These two layers were not added
to the TCP/IP protocol suite after the publication of the
OSI model. The application layer in the suite is usually
considered to be the combination of three layers in the
OSI model, as shown in Figure 2.12.
OSI vs TCP
Lack of OSI model’s success
The OSI model appeared after the TCP/IP protocol
suite. Most experts were at first excited and thought
that the TCP/IP protocol would be fully replaced by the
OSI model. This did not happen for several reasons, but
we describe only three.
First, OSI was completed when TCP/IP was fully in
place and a lot of time and money had been spent on
the suite; changing it would cost a lot.
Lack of OSI model’s success
Second, some layers in the OSI model were never fully
defined. For example, although the services provided
by the presentation and the session layers were listed in
the document, actual protocols for these two layers
were not fully defined, nor were they fully described,
and the corresponding software was not fully
developed.
Lack of OSI model’s success
Third, when OSI was implemented by an organization
in a different application, it did not show a high enough
level of performance to entice the Internet authority to
switch from the TCP/IP protocol suite to the OSI
model.